国际英语新闻:Vote Counting Underway in Myanmar

YANGON, MYANMAR—Vote counting is underway in Myanmar where turnout was more than 80 percent for the nation's first free general election in a quarter of a century.

Some 32 million people were registered to vote to select from more than 6,000 candidates for both houses of the national parliament and regional assemblies.

The country's most famous voter and candidate, National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was surrounded Sunday by hundreds of supporters and journalists at the polling station near her home in Bahan township in Yangon.

She did not speak or acknowledge the crowd as her bodyguards made a path for her to the ballot box where pandemonium erupted as photographers and television cameramen jostled to capture the scene.

The Nobel Laureate was expected to address her supporters outside NLD headquarters after the polls closed, but she did not appear.  The NLD released a statement after the voting ended calling on its supporters to await the results in their own homes and accept the outcome calmly.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated the people of Myanmar, also known as Burma, calling the election "a testament to the courage and sacrifice shown by the people of Burma over many decades."

He said the elections were "an important step forward," despite being "far from perfect."

The Union Election Commission (UEC) is scheduled to issue official tabulations six times a day until next Sunday, beginning Monday morning.  However, the opposition is already claiming victories in a number of townships.

The chief European Union election observer in the country, Alexander Lambsdorff, was upbeat early in the day, but added the election was not free of "flaws or shortcomings." The EU team plans to remain in Myanmar for a week during the post-balloting process.

“We have to see this election within a framework which is not openly democratic in the full sense,” remarked Ireland’s former president, Mary Robinson, observing with the Carter Center.

Millions more people, including Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, are disenfranchised for a lack of citizenship and other reasons.

It is not yet known how many eligible voters’ names are missing from the rolls at polling stations, but one observer group, Asian Network for Free Elections, described that as its primary concern.

“I am excited and want to participate seriously,” first-time voter Aye Aye Chit told VOA. “But I’m very worried about cheating.”

That was a concern shared by another female voter in Yangon.

“I want it to be fair and square,” said Kyi Kyi Win shortly after casting her ballot. “I have great confidence in the people.”

Voters could be seen patiently standing in the 32 degree heat for more than two hours at some polling states. Some of the elderly were assisted by their children. Others were lifted in their wheelchairs to navigate the steps to ballot boxes.

Sien Kyi, 87, emerged unassisted and declared he was “very happy” to have cast his ballot. “I expect change,” he told VOA. “This is a historic day.”

Accepting results

Myanmar’s president has vowed to cooperate with opposition parties for a stable transition should the election knock him out of power. “The government and the military will respect and accept the results," President Thein Sein said Friday as campaigning concluded. "I will accept the new government formed based on the election results.”

This is Myanmar’s first election since a nominally civilian government was established in 2011, a year after opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest and a ban lifted on her National League for Democracy.

Aung San Suu Kyi and her party scored a resounding victory in 1990 but were prevented from taking power. The NLD is expected to do well again this time against the Union Solidarity and Development Party - USDP - which has the backing of the powerful army.

The ruling party contests the election with one decided advantage: 25 percent of the seats in parliament are reserved for military officers.